Morning all.
It’s hard to believe that it was seventeen years ago today when one of England’s finest centre backs took the short trip across North London to sign for Arsenal. Arsene Wenger’s best defender signing I’d say and he bagged him for free. I doubt Sol Campbell needed much persuasion to switch clubs back then because Arsenal spoke for themselves on the pitch but even so, it must have been hard for Campbell as he knew he’d be on the end of a lot of stick after leaving the white side of town for red and white.
“David Dein made me feel protected. He was going to help and promised to be there for me. Come to us, he said, and you will be part of our family. We will protect you.”
He went on to win the League and FA Cup twice, something he’d never have done if he’d stayed at Totts and carried on playing until today.. Together with Kolo Touré, the pair formed a very good central defensive partnership. I don’t think we’ve had a defender with his quality since. Campbell I mean, not Touré.
Talking of central defenders, yesterday the club officially announced the signing of Sokratis Papastathopoulos who will once more join up with old teammates at Dortmund, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Friendly faces in the camp will no doubt make life a little easier for him. In other transfer news, Torreira is heading to Arsenal too according to the players father. Once his World Cup campaign is over with Uruguay, he’ll head to London for his medical and then sign on the dotted line. I do worry though when things like this are in the press because as we all know, people play games and until it’s made official, anything can happen.
Brazil v Mexico yesterday was another disappointing match I thought. The most entertaining part was watching Neymar. Not for his footballing skills I hasten to add but his pathetic theatrics. Ok, his shin was stood on but anyone would think a tonne of bricks had just fallen on his leg the way he rolled, rolled and rolled over again clutching his leg. Seriously, is he for real? No pun intended of course. Anyway, Mexico are out as are Japan after their game. 2-0 up having scored two really good goals, they buckled under pressure. Fellani came on, made a difference and the scores were soon level. Then just as extra time looked certain, Belgium grabbed the winner. Heartbreak for Japan.
Today sees the final fixtures of the last sixteen take place. Sweden take on Switzerland in the early game and then England are up against Columbia. Goodness only knows how either game will go really, on paper perhaps one would expect Switzerland and England to progress but this World Cup has produced so many upsets, anything could happen. The only thing we do know is that whoever wins today will face each other in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 3pm.
Finally, I don’t know if you’ve seen this doing the rounds but here is Japan’s changing room after last nights match.
I’m sure like me, you’ve seen pictures of the mess often left in changing rooms after a match so Japan as a nation should be proud. Their fans helped clear the stadium of rubbish too and left a note of thanks written in Russian.
Guess which club left this mess?
Good luck England… 🏴🏴
Morning all.
Good pro see we’ve bought another defender. Just a note of caution from an oft quoted source, “beware of Greeks bearing boots!”
As for Columbia tonight, they have some outstanding players, Ospina, Falcao, Rodregez etc. Compared to ours, Pickyernose, Endersun, and Cane. Are we better or worse??
Ingerland will have to perform really well to beat the South Americans imo. Not impossible but………? Like Leicester winning the premier league and Arsenal coming second, I suspect us to fall at this hurdle and we’ll “be coming home, football(ers) coming home”.
And finally, the weather is still warm but we have a few more clouds today. Garden could do with a bit of wet, I think.
We could sign Delayne (Deenmark) . Now, it’s too late.
Just seen pictures of the lads on the. Com. Wow the upcoming season is going to be interesting. I just can’t wait😊 good afternoon Rico and all.
Goof afternoon all…can’t wait for the league begin.
I hope England doesn’t put a “red card” lineup out there in the likes of Walker, Delph, Dele, Young etc. Against Columbia they will be baited because Columbia is so physical. It will not be a surprise if we see some red cards…….
Well that’s Xhaka and Lichtsteiner on their holidays. A couple of weeks on the Costa del Sol and then pre-season training.
Afternoon all and thanks Rico.
This WC is reminding me of the season when the anomaly Leicester won the league !……………… a season when all the planets were lined up for us to win it then Uranus went and spoilt it !…………. well this WC is trying to put all the planets in line for England……………………we are better than any of the teams left in our route as proven by FIFA rankings and with Spain, Germany, Agentina all gone and Italy and Holland not even in it !……………………………we(England) will never have a better chance of reaching the final, but you can bet your bottom dollar that Uranus will try to shit on us !
Cant wait for tonight and am so excited……………..Love Island has us gripped !
I bet British Colombia will be divided tonight !
Two weak links in our line-up, Young, who can’t find a forward pass and Sterling who hasn’t scored an international goal in living memory.
C’mon INGERLAND.
🔔 INGERLAND! 🔔 INGERLAND! 🔔 INGERLAND! 🔔
This is why I was an advocate for coming second in our group !…………………yes it was 50/50 split on some (delusionists) wanting to win the group and others (intelligent ones) like me wanting to come second !……………………………………..we have a quarter final against a country only known for IKEA and the Belgium have a game against the greatest WC winning country on Earth………………………..and Uranus !
🙂
New post up now.